370 



HINTS ON WINDOW GARDENING. 



the consumption of the whole Union. But 

 of all the foreign vines, of which I brought 

 a great many from the Rhine, my native 

 country, not one will ever do any good 

 here. A Burgundy vine, we have, how- 

 ever, from France, which has succeeded 

 well, and will make an excellent claret. 

 Sour cherries, as the Morello, Kentish, and 

 Montmorency, thrive very well ; hut the 

 May Duke, White and Black Hearts, are 



difficult to raise. Foreign plums, prunes 

 and gooseberries, will never thrive in the 

 middle states ; they require a more north- 

 ern climate, though our Avoods and prairies 

 are covered with native ones, — producing 

 abundance of fruit. These we should im- 

 prove, of which they are certainly suscep- 

 tible. Most respectfully yours. 



Emit Mallinckrott. 



St. Louis, December, 1848. 



HINTS ON "WINDO"W GARDENING. 



BY ROBERT SCOTT, PHILADELPHIA. 



Perhaps a few remarks on this subject may 

 not be uninteresting, especially to the fair 

 portion of the readers of the Horticulturist, 

 for whom these hints are principally in- 

 tended. 



In the December number, you have done 

 ample justice to the green-house ; and to 

 all who can carry out your judicious and 

 practical directions in erecting, heating it, 

 and making the selection of plants indi- 

 cated, cannot fail of success. But there 

 are many who have not that convenience, 

 who are, nevertheless, equally fond of flow- 

 ers, who spend considerable sums yearly in 

 purchasing plants, and bestow a great deal 

 of pains in attending to them. It is not to 

 be denied, too, that after all their endea- 

 vors, their plants often look sickly, and 

 finally die. The blame is often laid at 

 the door of the florist who supplied them, 

 for not giving them healthy plants, when 

 in almost every instance the fault lies with 

 the buyers. The plants, it is true, which 

 come into the market, and purchased from 

 their respective florists, have generally been 

 under a high state of cultivation ; they have 

 been regularly watered, potted in soil, ac- 



cording to their different habits, and grown 

 in pots according to their size. The heat, 

 air, and light have all been arranged and 

 regulated, as the utmost skill and experi- 

 ence could suggest. 



The transition from all this regularity to 

 the tender mercies of the purchaser is soo» 

 felt. Drowning, or starving, or neglecting 

 altogether, is no uncommon fate. The pots 

 are taken home, put into pans or saucers, 

 deluged with water, and the water left in 

 the saucers ; or they are set in some con- 

 spicuous place, and left to their fate. In 

 the first case, the leaves turn yellow and 

 drop, the flowers fall, and in a very short 

 time all that can be seen of them is their 

 naked stems, with little tufts of green on 

 the tops or points of the shoots, which a few 

 days before were in perfection. In the lat- 

 ter case, the plants die with all the leaves 

 and bloom upon them. Nearly all the evils 

 attending plants grown in windows, are to 

 be traced to these two causes. I will, 

 therefore, attempt to lay down a few gene- 

 ral rules which, if properly attended to, wiO 

 do away with nearly all the complaints un-^ 

 der this head. 



